Oh, yeah, Cathy. Do I have stories! :rolleyes:

Unfortunately, the really memoarble restaurant meals are mostly on the other side of the coin; I remember how bad they were---either the food, the service, or both.

I think a positive dining experience has as much to do with the people you are with as the restaurant itself. A meal at a mediocre restaurant, surrounded by friends who are having a good time with each other, can be a better experience than a 4-star meal you eat alone.

For instance, after our youngest son's wedding, we went out with my brother and his wife. Because they live on the left coast we hadn't really had a chance to meet her before (only other time had been at a funeral). So the four of us spent several really enjoyable hours, getting to know each other better, and sharing stories, and so forth.

The food was certainly good enough (I'd remember if it were bad). But don't ask me what I ate. I couldn't begin to tell you.

Stories like that I can share. But actual meals? Not hardly.

A meal at a mediocre restaurant, surrounded by friends who are having a good time with each other, can be a better experience than a 4-star meal you eat alone.

Well said KYH!!!

But I do have to add my family never ate out much growing up, and I seldom do now, for me eating out is a super treat!!! I like not being spoiled.

Did you read my story on the joint in Mississippi where Dad and I stopped one early Sun A.M.? It was a horrid experience, but the laughs my Dad and I so jovially shared over that made it one heck of a memorable dining expeience, it's hard to relate just how funny it was- you kind of just had to be there--it was like the Twighlight Zone! And I can truly say we still get to giggling over it to this day 35 yrs. later:)


Cheers, Cathy

Normally, I am a little leary of fusion restaurants....the can either be the most amazing place on earth, or the most horrible.....this place was just amazing...and to top it off, the first time we went was on halloween and everyone in the restaurant was dressed up in Kill Bill outifts...it was really a great experience.

I don't even like the idea of "fusion." Too often it means Asian flavors superimposed over a mish-mash of other foods, without rhyme nor reason.

That aside, in her otherwise unremarkable book, Linda Civitello presents the thesis that all cuisines are fusion. That wars, the migration of people, tourism, missionary activities, and so forth means that all cuisines have been heavily influenced by others.

My people come from a part of the world where invaders came raping through every 20 years or so, leaving behind an incredibly mixed culture. Thus, I can relate to Civitello's idea. And a close examination of most cuisines reveals that she's right.

Interesting, and I completely agree actually.